1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas discharge panel and a production method thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of producing a gas discharge panel for a plasma display panel (PDP) or a plasma addressing liquid crystal device (PALC), for example. The gas discharge panel according to the present invention is desirably used for household TVs, computer monitors, as well as large-screen displays for displaying information installed at stations, airports, stock exchanges, factories, schools and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, plasma display panels (PDP) and plasma addressing liquid crystal devices (PALC) are known as gas discharge panels. Among these gas discharge panels, PDP is characterized by large size and small thickness, and is one of the largest selling display apparatuses at the present time.
Now structure of a standard PDP will be illustrated using FIG. 1 on the basis of a PDP with 42-inch wide screen manufactured by Fujitsu which is commercially available at this time. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating the internal structure of the PDP.
A PDP 100 depicted in FIG. 1 generally consists of a front side substrate and a back side substrate.
First, the front side substrate generally consists of a display electrode in the form of stripe of plural lines formed on a glass substrate 11, a dielectric layer 17 formed so as to cover the display electrode, and a protective film (for example, MgO layer) 18 formed on the dielectric layer 17 and exposed to a discharge space.
The display electrode consists of a transparent electrode film 41 in the form of stripe and a bus electrode 42 laminated on the transparent electrode film 41. The bus electrode 42 has in the form of stripe and is narrower in width than the transparent electrode film.
Next, the back side substrate generally consists of a plurality of address electrodes A in the form of stripe formed on a glass substrate 21, a plurality of barrier ribs 29 in the form of stripe formed on the glass substrate 21 between neighboring address electrodes, and a phosphor layer 28 formed between barrier ribs 29 including the wall surfaces. As the phosphor material for use in the phosphor layer, (Y, Gd)BO3:Eu for red, Zn2SiO4:Mn for green, and BaMgAl10O17:Eu for blue are exemplified.
Then the abovementioned front side substrate and back side substrate are brought into opposite with each other with their inner faces opposing so that the display electrode and the address electrode intersect at right angles, and a space surrounded by the barrier ribs 29 is filled with a discharge gas (for example, Ne—Xe gas), to thereby form the PDP 100. In FIG. 1, R, G and B respectively represent unit light-emitting areas of red, green and blue, and constitute pixels by laterally arranged RGB.
A general manufacturing process of PDP will now be explained using the process flow shown in FIG. 2.
First, the front side substrate manufacturing process comprises the steps of: forming the transparent electrode film on the substrate, forming the bus electrode, forming the dielectric layer, and forming the protective film. On the other hand, the back side substrate manufacturing process comprises the steps of: forming the address electrode on the substrate, forming the barrier rib, and forming the phosphor layer. The front side substrate and the back side substrate thus obtained through the front side substrate manufacturing process and the back side substrate manufacturing process are then subjected to a panel assembling step, intra-panel evacuation step, and intra-panel discharge gas introducing step, to complete the PDP.
Description of the general structure of PDP is found, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. HEI 9(1997)-92161, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. HEI 3(1991)-230447.
Since conventionally PDP requires high driving voltages ranging from 150 V to 250 V, the PDP has problems that it requires an expensive high pressure resistant driving circuit, electric power consumption is large, and electromagnetic wave is considerably generated. Therefore, it has been requested to develop a protective film which realizes high secondary electron discharge rate (secondary electron discharge coefficient) and low driving voltage.